Rory McIlroy entered Thursday’s opening round of the 107th PGA Championship with his sights set on a second straight major championship. He snapped his 11-year major drought last month, winning the Masters in dramatic fashion.
Following his opening 18 holes though, McIlroy finds himself 10 shots off the pace set by Jhonattan Vegas, who caught fire late.
McIlroy signed for a 3-over 74 on Thursday, with a bogey to close his day on 18. It is certainly not the start to his Quail Hollow defense the Northern Irishman had in mind.
He won the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship (now the Truist) in 2024 at this course.
But there is good news: someone has come from 10 or more shots back after Day 1 at a major championship. The bad news, it was Harry Vardon in 1896. Vardon erased an 11-shot deficit 130 years ago to win The Open, according to The Athletic’s golf statistician Justin Ray.
McIlroy’s performance on Thursday was likely as surprising to him as it was fans watching from home. After all, the five-time major champion has owned the Quail Hollow Club.
Through 13 tournaments played in Charlotte, McIlroy was a combined 102-under par. The next closest golfer to his score during that time was 55 shots back of that.
But it was not just his domination of this course. McIlroy also entered the PGA Championship as the hottest golfer on the planet.
Not only did he win the Masters to complete the career grand slam, but he had two other wins on the PGA Tour already in 2025.
The 36-year-old captured a PGA Tour Signature Event early this season, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am. He followed that up with another Signature Event win at The PLAYERS.
Both of those tournaments have stacked fields. Yet, he came away victorious on both occasions.
Rory McIlroy’s silence speaks volumes after disappointing PGA Championship start
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— Irish Star US (@IrishStarUS) May 16, 2025
One of McIlroy’s biggest issues was typically a strength of his: driving the ball. Rory hit just 4-of-14 fairways during his opening round. Knowing the premium put on driving the ball accurately at Quail Hollow, that is a recipe for disaster.
That also led to him having essentially no birdie opportunities. For just the third time in 51 career rounds at Quail Hollow, McIlroy’s average proximity to the hole surpassed 50 feet. It was 50’9″ on Thursday.
That is directly tied to his inability to hit fairways, combined with the thick and soggy rough.
If the grand slammer wants any chance at making more history, he is going to have to go very low on Friday.
Unfortunately for him, he, alongside a frustrated Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele will tee off in the afternoon wave. Typically, athletes after poor performances want to get back out there as soon as they can. Instead, Rory McIlroy will have to sit around all day and watch his deficit potentially grow.
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